Edward manico



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EDWARD MANIOO, OF LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN P. MANIOQOFNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

'Letters Patent No. 73,617, dated January 21, 1868; patented in England,October 23, 1857.

IMPROVEMENT IN MARINE FOUNDATIONS. v

TO ALL WI-IOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, EDWARD MANICO, of the city of London, and Kingdom ofGreat Britain, have invented anew, useful, and improved mode ofobtaining or securing Foundations for Marine or other Structures," and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the annexeddrawings,'making a part of this specification.

In order to accomplish the object proposed, I construct a cradle orreceiver of bar-irou, of any convenient size or shape, but I prefer theshape shown on the drawings. These cradles are to be filled with stones,for the ready admission of which the tops thereof are secured byscrew-bolts, in such manner that they can be taken off or put on atpleasure.

Whenever a foundation is required, either at the mouths of harbors orrivers, on shifting sands at sea, in swamps, .oralong river-courses orsimilar places on land, I propose to establish said foundation bylowering these cradles upon the sands, (if at sea,) and leaving them tobe filled up with sand, and gradually to sink to the underlying rock,chalk, or other solid foundation upon which the superstratum of sandalways rests. The filling in of the sand will be eifected by the actionof the waves, and the sinking by the specific gravity of the receiversor cradles themselves. In establishing a foundation, any number ofcradles are sunk that may be required, until a foundation shall havebeen formed on which a superstructure may be raised, either by acontinned use of the cradles, or by masonry or otherwise, as shall bemost appropriate to the circumstances and the locality. The cradles maybe attached to each other by chains or other means, orthey may be putdown separately, accordingly as the exigencies of the occasion and placeindicate the one or the other plan to be most advantageous or desirable.v

My attention has been devoted for the last thirty years to this subject,and a large experience on the coasts of Great Britain-and Ireland tenyears ago enabled me to reach conclusions on the'action of the sea, andthe means of resisting or arresting its violence, which resulted in mydevising this invention, and on the 23d of October, 1857, I took outLetters Patent for the same for and within'the United Kingdom'of GreatBritain and Ireland, the Channel Isles, and the Isle of Man.

I call my invention a caisson de ferr It will be perceived that it isadapted in an especial manner to fixing and securing foundations forpermanent sea-works on dangerous and exposed coasts, where masonry willnot stand the effects of the sea, and where there is no escape forvessels that are driven upon such coasts, because it presents the meansof creating artificial harbors where nature has not provided them, andalso that it is applicable to banks of canals, to the re-creation ofland washed away by the 5823 411116. for sea-works on sandy coasts,where foundations for breakwaters cannot'be obtained by any other means;

My invention is also peculiarly adapted to the establishment ofbreakwaters at the mouths of such rivers as the Mississippi and Mobile,where, in order to deepen the channel, it is necessary to reduce thewidth of the mouth of the river by artificial means, with the view toccnfine the current within narrow and prescribed limits, It is alsouseful in obtaining foundations for light-houses, fortifications, andother public works, in marshes, and upon soft alluvion deltas, such asare so frequently found on the Atlantic and Mexican Gulf coasts of theUnited States, as well as for many other purposes that need not hereinbe particularly mentioned.

Experience has demonstrated that perhaps a cubic yard is the best ormost suitable size for the cradle; but, as I have before stated, I donot confine myself to any given dimensions or shape, but varythe one andthe other as circumstances require. A cradle of the dimensions of acubic yardw ill contain about one ton of stones, and, when embedded insand or shingle, the interstices between the irregularly-shaped stoneswill receive from ten to twelve hundrcdweight of the some. Add to thisthe weight of the iron of which the cradle is com= posed, and we have aweight of upwards of two tons.

In the construction of the cradles, I commonly use bar-iron, threeinches wide by half an inch thick, but heavier or lighter iron may beemployed, and sometimes even wood may be substituted for iron. The bars,where they cross each other, may be fastened together by rivets orbolts, and they must be sufficiently distant from each other to leaveopen spaces large enough for the easy-admission of sand, to fill up thespaces between the stones.

Having thus described my invention, I desire it to be understood that Ido not claim any of the articles used in my invention when takenseparately; biit What I do claim, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is The combin'ationof partsand articles herein described, whenthe same are used for obtaining foundations for marine and otherstructures requiring them.

' EDWARD MANICO.

Witnesses: 4

J-NO. Bunnwoon, Smfi Commander, R. N. THOMAS A. HULL, Master, R. N.

